Suspicious minds: Anwar not Altaf runs Karachi show, says Afaq

MQM-H’s leader asks the Supreme Court to take notice of the Lyari operation.

KARACHI: Altaf Hussain is a hostage to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Mohammad Anwar who is actually pulling the party’s strings in Karachi, declared leader of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement - Haqiqi (MQM-H), Afaq Ahmed.

“I used to think that everything that happens in the party [MQM] and in Karachi was being controlled by Altaf Hussain,” said Ahmed at his new Defence Housing Authority residence on Wednesday. “But now I know that he is being dictated by Anwar and has to do everything according to his instructions.”

Ahmed suggested that the MQM leader should come back to Pakistan. “If Altaf bhai wants to be out of this situation, he should come back. We would welcome him at the airport.”

Ahmed based his claims on some joint investigation reports and also revealed that three “high ranking members” of the MQM are on a hit list. He chose not to divulge the names so that “he isn’t viewed as supporting it”.

Anwar, who is a senior coordinator in the MQM’s Coordination Committee at its London Secretariat, “has threatened to ruin the MQM if Altaf Hussain does not follow his instructions,” alleged Ahmed.

Ahmed didn’t elaborate as to what exactly the source of Muhammad Anwar’s power is and how and why he enjoys hold on Altaf Hussain, who is traditionally thought to be unquestionable in his authority over the party, hostage to his interests.

Lyari operation: a political ploy

According to Ahmed, the operation in Lyari was carried out by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) simply to please a ‘certain’ party. He hinted at the MQM since they used to generate Rs300 million to Rs400 million revenue from the area which had stopped recently.

Dismissing the presence of Talibans, RAW agents or Balochistan Liberation Army in Lyari, he termed it a drama drummed up by the PPP to justify an operation for purely political reasons.

“The Supreme Court should take notice of the people who have been lying about the Lyari operation and an inquiry should be initiated against them,” demanded Ahmed. “The families of those killed should be compensated along with those whose property was damaged.”

Mentioning the heavy weaponry used by criminals in Lyari, Ahmed said that the Supreme Court should also take notice of the People’s Amn Committee’s (PAC) Zafar Baloch’s claim that the PPP supplied them with weapons. Pointing to the amount of licences for arms the PPP has handed out, Ahmed said that there is truth in Baloch’s claim.

Divide and conquer

Condemned the creation of a Seraiki province, Ahmed said that provinces should be created strictly on an administrative basis. Constitutionally you cannot carve out a province through a resolution in the National Assembly, said Ahmed, elaborating that the resolution has to go through a two-thirds majority in the concerned provincial assembly.

“If you make provinces on the basis of ethnicity, then you will keep making provinces and the country will eventually collapse.”

He termed the creation of a Seraiki province as a political ruse to manipulate the Seraiki people. “This move aims to divide Sindh. Although Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s roots are in Punjab, the President is a Sindhi and he will be responsible for dividing the province.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2012.